NOVEMBER 2025
And just like that… November tiptoes in!
One day we’re crunching leaves under our boots, and the next—whoosh!—November blows in with its bag of weather tricks. Will it sprinkle rain? Shine some sun? Toss a little snow our way? Or maybe surprise us with all four in one day! Be sure your child’s backpack is ready for whatever November dreams up — a cozy hat here, a spare pair of socks there, and maybe even some mittens just in case!
A big, warm thank-you to all our families who let us know when their little ones will be away. It helps our teachers plan our days and activities. And thank you as well for sharing when your child is feeling under the weather — your thoughtfulness helps keep our preschool friends happy and healthy!
🍕 Pizza Night & Cake Walk! 🎂
Thursday, November 20th | 5:30–7:30 PM
Get ready for one of our favourite nights of the whole year! Pizza Night & Cake Walk is back, and it’s sure to be an evening full of laughter, friendship, and delicious fun.
At St. Catherine’s, we believe that when families, children, and teachers come together, something magical happens — a real sense of belonging. These shared moments help our preschool community grow stronger, creating lasting friendships and happy memories for everyone.
Order forms will be sent home on November 3rd and 4th, so please fill them out and return them as soon as possible — no later than November 18th. You won’t want to miss out on this wonderful night!
We’ll have pizza, ten amazing salads lovingly made by our teachers, and desserts galore prepared by our incredible board members. And of course... CAKE! 🎉
We’re inviting families to donate a cake for our Cake Walk or Auction. (Because let’s be honest — there’s no such thing as too much cake!) If your little one doesn’t win during the Cake Walk game, don’t worry — you can always try your luck in the cake auction! Any unused Cake Walk tickets will go into the final raffle for one last delicious cake or maybe even a special prize basket!
So come hungry, come cheerful, and come ready to celebrate the wonderful community that makes St. Catherine’s Preschool so special. We can’t wait to see you there!
CLASS PHOTOS
CLASS PHOTOS will be held on Nov 5th and 6th. We will be taking individual portraits as well as class photos these days. If you know your child will be absent on these days, please let us know.
Once the photos have been edited, we will send you one group shot and one individual shot for you to keep.
In lieu of paying for a package of photos, we suggest that, if you are able, please think about a donation to the school. All donations will go directly to the upkeep, maintenance of our play yard with some monies going to our gym/yard equipment.
Our Purdys Chocolate Fundraiser is NOW OPEN!
It is that time of year again!! Time for our Christmas Chocolate Fundraiser!!
Christmas Chocolate! Yum! You can get a lot of your Christmas shopping done with this fundraiser! There are amazing chocolate gifts and stocking stuffers galore!
Please think about ordering some chocolate from our Christmas Fundraiser and please, invite your friends and family to order as well! We are raising funds to keep our current and our future Playground awesome!!
To order from our Fundraiser: https://fundraising.purdys.com/1822236-130045
Our Customer number is 11053
1. Sign in or create a new supporter account either by clicking the link above or by visiting fundraising.purdys.com
2. If you’re creating a new account, please enter the customer number above on the registration page.
3. If you’re signing into an existing account, enter the number above into the search bar that will come up after you’ve signed in.
4. Click on JOIN CAMPAIGN.
We will have order forms available in the Church lobby if you would like to pay by cheque.
Please fill out your form and make a cheque payable to ST. CATHERINE'S CHILDCARE SOCIETY and drop it off to the preschool office before November 17th.
Pick up for orders will be November 27th
SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS ARE DUE BY NOVEMBER 14TH!!
Scholastic Book Orders are due Friday, November 14th! Reading with your preschooler every day helps build early language skills, sparks imagination, and fosters a lifelong love of books. Plus, every order earns our preschool Bonus Bucks that we use to purchase new books and fun classroom activities—thank you for supporting our little readers!
Click the link for some great Christmas Gift ideas! https://www.qgdigitalpublishing.com/publication/?i=853270
Our Class Code is RC168576
Classroom Activities
Rainbow Room
What a busy month we have had in the Rainbow Room! The children have settled into the classroom routines smoothly and are making new friends while learning through play.
Our first theme this month was Thanksgiving.
We learned about turkeys, harvest time, cornucopias, and celebrating with family and friends. We danced to “Dingle Dangle Scarecrow” and the “Turkey Hokey Pokey.” In our house corner, we had Thanksgiving food to share with our friends, and on the science table, we had different colored apples and containers to make apple pies.
Our art projects included handprint turkeys, paper plate turkeys, and leaf wreaths.
We then moved on to Autumn and Fall Colors.
We talked about autumn leaves changing color and falling, how the weather is getting colder, and that we have to wear warmer clothes. We went for a walk to look at the autumn leaves. We read many books about leaves and sang “Fall Leaves” and “Five Leaves in a Tree.” We used leaves to make prints and touched the veins of the leaves as we pressed them onto the paper. We used yellow and red watercolor on diffusing paper to turn our leaves orange, and we watched as the water spread across the paper.
Our final theme for the month was (of course) Hallowe’en.
We decorated the classroom with all manner of spooky things: spiders and webs, a few witches, some ghosts, lots of pumpkins and jack-o’-lanterns, bats, and skeletons. We’ve been talking about the costumes we’ll wear for trick-or-treating, how to turn pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, and how to stay safe. Marion gave the class a special lesson from “Fireman Dan,” in which they learned how to “Stop, Drop, and Roll” and to “Crawl low under smoke.” We practice these phrases and skills and have reminder sessions throughout the school year.
Our favourite books were The Biggest Pumpkin, Skeleton Hiccups, the CD story Boo Who?, and the felt rhyme Pumpkin, Pumpkin, What Do You See? We also played matching games, memory games, and sang and danced to “Spooky Wheels on the Bus,” “Ghostbusters,” and “The Spooky Hokey Pokey.”
For art, we explored textures and different processes, including making jack-o’-lantern pumpkins, ghosts with glue and shaving cream, silhouettes of bats dabbed with sponges to reveal the shapes, and potato masher spiders. We decorated popsicle-stick haunted houses and used stickers to decorate many Hallowe’en shapes.
October at preschool always ends with a great party, made especially fun by wearing our Hallowe’en costumes. We shared special food with our friends, watched Max & Ruby’s Halloween DVD, and danced to spooky Hallowe’en music. Thank you to all the parents who helped with food at this party — it is much appreciated.
We have had some great weather this October, and we’ve been able to play outside much more than usual, which is always nice. This past week, though, it has become much colder, so please remember to send your children to preschool in warm jackets, toques (hats), and mittens.
We’ve had a very fun and interesting month, and of course, we have big plans for November — we are going to explore different modes of transportation! We are also welcoming Karen back to the teaching team in the Rainbow Room.
Thank you for reading our blog, and as always, if you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to talk to one of the teachers.
Danielle, Marjan, Monica
Treehouse Room
In the month of October, we experienced the real beauty of Fall as the trees began changing the colour of their leaves. The weather started to get colder, chillier, and windier — everyone could feel the change in the air and notice how different everything looked compared to the previous months. The beautiful nature of B.C. was the best teacher for helping children learn about the Fall season. Nature truly helped us engage the children and inspired many of our activities throughout the month.
We had two “Walking in the Community” adventures with our classes. During our first walk, the children collected leaves and observed the different types and colors of leaves around us. It was a great opportunity for them to learn about nature and practice being responsible, caring for themselves and their peers. On our second walk, we explored the neighborhood to see the spooky Halloween decorations and houses — the children were so excited and had a wonderful time!
During art time, we used natural materials such as apples and leaves, beans, and seeds for painting and crafting.
During Circle Time, we read books about animals, plants, and nature in Autumn. This month, we focused on teaching children about seasonal changes — how the weather, plants, fruits, vegetables, and even animal habitats change during this beautiful season.
October is always a busy and exciting month for everyone, especially for children! We celebrated Thanksgiving, Diwali, and Halloween, each filled with meaningful learning experiences and lots of fun.
We also celebrated Diwali this month! Teacher Vibha visited our classroom and showed the children how to make traditional Indian bread (roti). The children helped from start to finish and were so proud to eat what they made! They also decorated colourful Indian candle holders, learning about the meaning and joy of this Festival of Lights.
October was also Fire Safety Month. Marion taught a fire safety session, which is especially important this time of year. The children watched an engaging and age-appropriate video about “Fireman Dan” and practiced life-saving skills such as “Stop, Drop, and Roll” and “Crawl Low Under Smoke”. It was a huge success — we continued hearing “Stop, Drop, and Roll!” joyfully repeated throughout the day!
During the last two weeks of October, we started preparing our classroom for Halloween. The children helped decorate the room with spooky things like spiders, bats, and ghosts. In one corner, we created a pretend Halloween shop where children could play dramatic play, pretending to buy costumes and accessories. Teachers also joined in as customers, making it even more fun!
On Halloween Day, we had a fantastic Halloween Party in the classroom. The children wore their costumes, brought food from home to share, danced, enjoyed games, and had a wonderful time together.
It was truly a joyful and busy month filled with learning, creativity, and celebration!
A big thank you to all families for your generosity in making our Halloween parties possible. We had the longest snack time with the cutest little characters.
RESOURCE ROOM - MARION
Two months into the school year, and the children in the Rainbow Room are developing many independent skills — dressing, unpacking and packing up their snack/lunch kits, and putting on their coats. They are all participating at Circle Time and learning so many rhymes and songs. It is so nice to see the little friendships blossoming. Some children come with a ready-set group of friends, while others start off not knowing anyone.
Then there are the stages of play: solitary, parallel, associative, and cooperative play. Most of the children are moving from parallel play to associative and cooperative play. They are playing in small groups and communicating with each other as they drive the cars or pour the sand. As they learn to share and wait for their turn, they are developing important social skills. The dynamics in the group change each day, and they need to be able to communicate their needs to each other.
Young children love routines, and through regular routines they become successful and confident in what is expected of them. Giving three-year-olds some responsibilities — such as cleaning up their toys or putting on their shoes at home — gives them a sense of pride when they complete the task.
As the Treehouse Room children prepare for Kindergarten, they are learning valuable social skills. At Circle Time they practice their listening skills, turn-taking, and how to respond to questions. They are learning to recognize the letters in their names and can identify some of their friends’ names.
The classrooms are set up with a number of play areas. During free play, the children are able to move from one activity to another. The four-year-olds are learning how to form friendships with a number of children; this sometimes depends on their play interests at the time. There are leaders and followers, and young children may take on both roles during play. The teachers use Circle Time to teach the children about peer interactions, being kind to each other, and of course, our number one rule: “No One Gets Hurt.”
We will be starting our rehearsals for our wonderful Christmas Service, which will be held on Wednesday, December 10th, at 6 p.m. in the church.
Thank you for your support of our fundraising events. The next one will be our Pizza & Cake Walk Night on Thursday, November 20th.
If you have any questions or concerns, please speak with your teachers or chat with me in the office.